2,2,2-Trifluoroethanol (TFE) is a trifluorinated alcohol possessing very good thermal stability, which makes it suitable for a certain number of applications, in particular in the synthesis of fluorinated anesthetics, in pharmacology in general, and as a solvent.
The preparation of this alcohol either by hydrogenation of trifluoroacetic acid or its esters, or by hydrolysis of 2,2,2-trifluoroethyl acetate, in the liquid phase in a solvent having hydroxyl groups, has been described in the prior art.
These various processes for the preparation of TFE are not entirely satisfactory on the industrial scale and, therefore, research has been undertaken in order to find out if it would be possible to carry out a direct hydrolysis, in the gas phase, of 1-chloro-2,2,2-trifluoroethane.